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At least 17 people died as the ongoing heat wave continued to grip the country. Unannounced power loadshedding multiplied the miseries of the people as maximum temperatures crossed the 45 degree Celsius mark in many parts of the country
Loadshedding amid the extreme weather claimed four lives, including that of three children at two hospitals of Mithi (Thar) where enraged people protested and staged a sit-in on the main road. Two more deaths each were reported from Narang Mandi and Jalla Jeem, and one each from DG Khan and Dhanot – where people faced 15 hours of outages. Another seven people died in other towns and cities of the country.
South Punjab, most parts of Balochistan and Sindh faced the worst situation where the temperature continued to rise. The highest temperature in the country was 49 degrees Celsius at Sibi while it hit 46 degree Celsius in Karachi.
Amid the seemingly unending energy crisis, the people on Saturday again staged protests. In Charsadda, angry residents ransacked the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) office. Police said in Shabqadar, the charged protesters managed to enter the grid station and set on fire a rickshaw, the control room and Pesco record. The police arrested four protesters, as an official of the grid station claimed that valuables worth Rs5 million were destroyed.
The police lodged cases against the protesters for attacking and damaging state installations under Section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act (7-ATA). In Bannu, protesters besieged the Wapda Colony as the police stopped them from entering the officials’ premises.
In Dera Ismail Khan, hundreds of people took out a rally and blocked the road near Liaqat Park by burning tyres. The baton-wielding protesters stopped the car of Amir Muqam, adviser to the PM, in the Armar locality of the city, forcing him to return.
Similar scenes were witnessed in Haripur where the residents of Mohallah Afzalabad blocked the Khanpur Road near the Central Jail. Later, a police party baton-charged the protesters to open the road, while registering a case against 10 of them.
The extreme weather made people pray for rains in south Punjab where dozens of people fell unconscious. On the other hand, Mepco is facing a 400MW shortfall due to a technical fault in the Abdul Hakim (Kabirwala) power generation unit while hundreds of transformers went out of order in the 13 districts of the region.
In Multan, people besieged the Mepco headquarters and protested outside the sub-division office in Hassanabad as the administration and police warned of attacks on the offices of power distribution companies in the coming days.Life was also paralysed in Bahawalpur where the day temperature was recorded at 46 degree Celsius, while there was no electricity in the Model Town area throughout the night.
The overall shortfall in the country touched the 5,500MW mark, as sources in the NTDC (National Transmission and Dispatch Company) said the electricity demand stood at 16,500MW against production of 11,300MW.
In Hyderabad, angry protesters resorted to arson at the Hesco office, while traders
took to the streets in Narang Mandi as well. People of Khanewal, Mian Channu, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Vehari, Uchh Sharif, Layyah, Sadiqabad and Burewala also faced great hardships due to the sizzling sun and power outages. As results, protest demonstrations were also held in these towns.
Reports about unannounced loadshedding, technical faults and the resultant protests were also received from Mianwali and Taunsa Sharif.But there is some good news too as the Met Office predicted first spell of pre-monsoon rains over upper Punjab, Hazara Division, Lower Sindh and Kashmir from Sunday (today).
Weak to moderate monsoon currents are likely to penetrate in upper and some south-eastern parts of Pakistan from today. Based on incursions of monsoon currents, the forecast for different areas is given below:
Three or four rains with dust-storm/thundershower expected at scattered places of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Lahore divisions during Saturday evening/night to Thursday.Three or four rains with thundershower expected at a number of places in Hazara Division and Kashmir during Saturday to Thursday.
Two or three rains with dust storm/ thundershower expected at isolated places of Peshawar, Kohat, Mardan, Bannu, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Sahiwal during Sunday to Wednesday.One or two rains with dust storm/ thundershower expected at isolated places of DI Khan, Zhob, Sibbi, Multan, DG Khan and Bahawalpur divisions during Monday to Thursday.
One or two rains with dust storm/ thundershower expected at isolated places of Mirpurkhas Division during Saturday to Tuesday.
In the next 24 hours, widespread rain-thundershower with dust storm is expected in Hazara, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala divisions, Islamabad and Kashmir, while at isolated places in Malakand, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Mardan, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Mirpurkhas divisions, Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Meanwhile in Charsadda, the protest against the worst power outages continued for the second consecutive day as angry residents ransacked Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) offices.
Irked by unannounced and massive blackouts, the charged protesters attacked the Charsadda grid station and torched the record.The police said that the protesters from various areas gathered at the Farooq-i-Azam Chowk and staged protest against the unbearable power outages.
They were chanting slogans against the Wapda and federal government.The police said in Shabqadar, the charged protesters managed to enter the grid station and put on fire a rickshaw, a Wapda control room and other record.
The police also arrested four protesters and lodged cases against them. An official of the grid station claimed that valuables worth Rs5 million were torched and ransacked by the charged mob during the protest.
The police lodged cases against the protesters for attacking and damaging the state installations and under section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act (7-ATA). In Bannu, the consumers staged a protest rally and besieged the Wapda Colony against the unannounced and excessive power outages and blocked the Bannu road for traffic.
Chanting slogans against the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) and federal government, the charged protesters gathered in front of the Wapda Colony and besieged it after the police stopped them from entering its’ premises.
In Dera Ismail Khan, the residents of parts of the district took to the streets against the unannounced and hours-long power cuts and blocked various roads for traffic.
In Dera city, hundreds of consumers took out a protest rally and blocked a road near the Liaqat Park for traffic by burning tyres.
In Mingora, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets against the unannounced and prolonged power outages in Swat district and blocked the Kalam-Mingora road and several others link roads for traffic.
The residents of Madyan, Matta, Shagai and other areas staged protest rallies against what they called ‘unbearable’ and hours-long power outages.
They were chanting slogans of “Go Nawaz Go” and “Go Imran Go” and demanding the government to resign for its failure to address the problem of loadshedding.
The blockade of road resulted in the long queues of vehicles on roads. The commuters and motorists faced hardships in reaching destinations.
In Lakki Marwat, the trader community said they would not implement official pricelist of daily use commodities until and unless the authorities solved the problems of loadshedding and low voltage.
During a meeting district councilor-elect from Lakki City Ishfaq Ahmad Khan Meenakhel on Saturday, Lorry Adda Traders Association president Inayatullah Khan and representatives of other trade unions said their businesses were severely affected by loadshedding.
Ishfaq assured that he would take up the issues with district administration officials to get them resolved. He said the administration should involve public representatives of local government in the process of fixing rates of daily use commodities or taking decisions in the interest of people.
Courtesy of thenews.com.pk
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